Idle thoughts – Unstructured musings from Joel Dunn…

Monthly Archives: June 2013

I’ve recently put to rest an issue that’s bothered me since I first got my Samsung ARM Chromebook in the fall of 2012…why I couldn’t get a headset/microphone that worked on other devices, including on a Samsung Chromebook 5 550 and a Chromebox to work on my Samsung ARM Chromebook.

I’d been trying to find out why it didn’t work, and there was an active thread on the Google Group ChromebookCentral on this topic. There were reports that it was a known bug in the ChromeOS, that Chrome ninjas had been able to reproduce the error, and several folks having problems. There are enough differences between the ARM version of ChromeOS and the Intel version of ChromeOS that I put credence into this. However, time passed, many versions of ChromeOS posted, and no solution arrived. I poked my head up again, and eventually a post surfaced that had the key! It seems that there are two versions of the standard for 3.5mm combo ports, and that the Samsung ARM Chromebook uses the one that’s not compatible with iPhone earbuds. There were reports of boom mics that worked, so I decided to try one. I found the Buddy HeadsetMic Mono – Mobile edition on Amazon, decided to order one since it said it worked with Chromebooks. I’ve been very pleased with this headset/microphone; I’ve had it a couple of weeks, used it several times, and it’s quite nice. Good quality, comfortable, and has a long cord. Supposedly one can get an adapter that switches the ground to make iPhone earbuds work; I tried one without success.

So, if you have a Samsung ARM Chromebook, had tried iPhone earbuds and it didn’t work, now you know why and what to do…

What do you want to do for Father’s Day dear? Why yes, I’d like to take a short trip over to the Eno River and see if I can catch a Roanoke Bass. These are a fairly rare, spunky overgrown sunfish, and are quite wily and strong for their size. Left the house shortly after 10am, fortified by three lattes 😉 . Drove the 15 miles to the Eno River State Park, rigged up and hiked the quarter mile to the river. The water level and clarity were perfect. Our piedmont streams are never crystal clear, but I could see the bottom in 3 feet or so of water. I’d not been to this particular spot in a couple years, but I remembered why I like it so much. Clear water, deep shade, and the quiet of being far from a heavily traveled road.

There were two trees which had fallen into the middle of the pool I wanted to fish, but there was still water to work around the them. I put on a crayfish pattern and soon caught a 12-14″ sucker. These guys are great sport and strong, so I was not unhappy. I lost the crayfish in a tree (tugged an a subsurface snag and it flipped into a tree when it came off…oh well! Time to change flies! I put on a small green rubber legged streamer, flipped it near the snags and had a very strong strike. Brought in this Roanoke Bass:

No more action there, and I walked downstream to a long pool. I was trying to figure out the best way to get down the steep bank. I put my rod down and figured I could swing in on a stout ironwood tree on the bank. I was trying to decide where to step when I slipped, shinnied down the tree, and info the water. Not graceful, but effective! I worked up the pool in cool, waist deep water, picking up lots of sunfish but no more bass.

Came back home about 2pm, and now getting ready for Father’s Day grilling. Not a bad day at all!

I’d not visited the sunfish in Morgan Creek lately. I had a wee bit of time this late afternoon, so I picked up my 00-wt Dave Lewis-built Sage TXL, put a fly box in my pocket, my tool lanyard around my neck, and hopped onto my bike. I peddled 1/2 mile to the stream at the edge of the neighborhood and walked a few hundred yards downstream to a favorite spot. Tied on a flashback pheasant tail and caught a little sunfish on the first cast. Then, hooked this one:

This is a tiny creek, and this is a wily lunker 😉 . Caught and released several more, while working my way upstream. Landed this one in a big pool that’s trapped some snags after recent heavy rains:

It’s not high adventure but even these little guys bend the 00. Missed the best fish of the day, tho, and that’s a reason to go back. Only a bit over an hour, including biking, but its a great mental refresher!